Could be interesting, as Eddie Murphy's reputation vis-a-vis the Oscars is one of general petulance. When he presented the Best Picture award in 1988, he chastised the Academy for not giving more awards to black actors, and when he didn't win the Oscar for Dreamgirls in 2007, there were reports -- exaggerated, perhaps, but still -- that he left the ceremony in a huff. (Apparently he also presented awards in 1983 (Best Visual Effects) and 2009 (the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, which was given that year to Jerry Lewis).)

Eddie, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2006′s Dreamgirls but lost, is said to worship the Oscars. “Nobody knows movies better or is a bigger cinephile than Eddie. Not Brett. Not even Quentin Tarantino. Eddie can quote scenes from every single movie word for word,” an insider tells me. “He can bring all that experience to hosting. Plus he has Saturday Night Live experience before a live crowd. And worldwide the biggest crossover comedians are Will Smith and Eddie Murphy.” That’s important because a huge part of the Academy Awards telecast audience is global. And with two movies opening before the Oscars, Murphy could benefit from the publicity bonanza especially overseas where international releases usually follow U.S. openings by several months. Besides, the Academy has been after more diversity which is why this October it’s honoring James Earl Jones and Oprah Winfrey (even though she’s much more of a TV personality than a movie star or filmmaker).

Source: Brett Ratner Out as Oscar Show ProducerRatner had been named as the producer of the 2012 Academy Awards show, but he has been under fire for making a series of ill-judged remarks in recent days, including saying "rehearsal is for fags" and discussing his sex life with Howard Stern.The Academy is expected to issue an announcement detailing the situation later today. It is not yet known whether Eddie Murphy, who stars in Ratner's film Tower Heist and was recruited by Ratner to serve as the host of the Oscar show, will remain involved with the production.Hollywood Reporter, November 8

Did Eddie Murphy withdraw in protest of Brett Ratner being canned (good for him if he did). Or was Murphy canned / encouraged to resign because he was part of Team Ratner? Or did someone finally You-Tube search Murphy's gay routine in RAW (which I remember even in 1987 thinking was ugly and mean-spirited, and I speak as someone who thought, and still thinks, the routine in DELIRIOUS was hilarious)?

I dunno, as I understand it, hosts are hired by the producer, and if the producer goes, then the host is in an awkward spot. Has a producer ever quit the Oscars before? If so, then there might be a precedent to measure Murphy against.

A Muppet-hosted Oscars might be our best chance to see Frank Oz operating a Yoda puppet again. Or David Bowie as the Goblin King. Or Statler and Waldorf heckling the Oscars. Or Beaker presenting the award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Brian Grazer to produce. The headline on this piece originally said that Grazer was hoping Eddie Murphy would reconsider and come back to host the show -- which, if Murphy had refused, REALLY wouldn`t have looked good -- but now they`re saying Grazer and the Academy have `moved on`.

Brian Grazer to produce. The headline on this piece originally said that Grazer was hoping Eddie Murphy would reconsider and come back to host the show -- which, if Murphy had refused, REALLY wouldn`t have looked good -- but now they`re saying Grazer and the Academy have `moved on`.

Brian Grazer to produce. The headline on this piece originally said that Grazer was hoping Eddie Murphy would reconsider and come back to host the show -- which, if Murphy had refused, REALLY wouldn`t have looked good -- but now they`re saying Grazer and the Academy have `moved on`.

So I guess Ron Howard will be hosting?

No, he'll be the announcer, but in the Arrested Development narrator style.

This was perhaps the most high-profile punishment ever administered for use of this word, suggesting “fag” has now joined the N-word and the C-word as one of the three Words You Cannot Say.

And sure enough, in their discussion of this story, MTV Movies Blog renders the offending word in question "f**s". Good grief.

Meanwhile, The Los Angeles Times reminds us that Brian Grazer himself was associated with a `gay controversy` only just last year (that whole `electric cars are gay` thing from the trailer for The Dilemma, which Grazer produced).

He [...] discussed masturbation, his skill at performing oral sex, pubic hair, the size of his testicles, the erotic habits of Hollywood moguls, his dislike of using condoms, and his supposed habit of sending potential partners to his doctor to be checked for STDs before he sleeps with them.

I'm thinking the "fag" thing might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. As Linda Holmes points out,

When you're intentionally speaking about women you've had sex with (or you're saying you've had sex with) as a way of daring people to be offended and showing off how much you don't mind, then if they're offended, you got what you wanted.

[snip]

Not having him in charge of the Oscars doesn't need to be about hand-wringing, pearl-clutching, or even gasping in shock.

It should be done with a dispassionate shrug. "We aren't looking for a producer with this vision of what public behavior is supposed to look like, because the Oscars telecast is a brand that isn't consistent with that." It doesn't have to be a scandal. It's simple cause and effect.

....

In other news, for some reason, I've been confusing Ratner with Brian Singer. Which led to an interesting moment of "wait, what?" when all this first broke.

NBooth wrote:
: I'm thinking the "fag" thing might have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

Actually, the consensus I`ve been picking up from some movie blogs is the exact opposite of that. They think Ratner could have survived a single off-the-cuff non-malicious use of the word "fags" -- just look at how Tracy Morgan bounced back from his presumably premeditated stand-up routine about how he would stab his son if his son were gay, which is way worse than anything Ratner said -- but Ratner`s subsequent appearance on the Howard Stern show, in which he discussed his sexual habits in such vivid detail, is what broke the camel's back in this case.

Of course, the fact that Ratner indicated he hates rehearsals also didn`t bode well for the sort of, um, production values he might have brought to the Oscars -- which are, after all, broadcast live. If the show had turned out badly, everyone would have been quick to point his anti-rehearsal attitude, and everyone would have asked what the Academy was THINKING by hiring this guy in the first place.